


Nice Coat, Barry.

by godbless_shitposting



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Crappy pick-up lines, Die Hard spoilers, Just something I thought of one day, M/M, Secret Relationship, and let's not forget the Brooklyn 99, and then it becomes not-so secret, because everyone keeps finding out, because it's the greatest show on earth and so help me god I will shove it into every fic I write, len just wants to show off his speedster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-03-23 11:31:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13786719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godbless_shitposting/pseuds/godbless_shitposting
Summary: “Come on, you steal stuff all the time,” Barry argued.“Ouch,” Len responded with a grin.“It’s true!”Everything from Chapter 2 on is dedicated to ren_galileo because of a SUPER nice comment that inspired me to continue <3





	1. How a Parka Can Implode the Entire World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ren_galileo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ren_galileo/gifts).



> One day Barry forgets that he's wearing his boyfriend's coat. Only problem is, that basically gives away the secret of him having a boyfriend, and who that boyfriend is, for that matter. Also, Iris wants her mug back, and it happens to be in that boyfriend's house. Shenanigans ensue.

“Nice coat, Barry,” Cisco snorted. Barry was mortified as he realized with a start that the parka he was wearing wasn’t his. Barry’s pulse quickened as his mind raced to find an excuse. The evidence against him was pretty damning. Navy blue, over-sized, and a fluffy hood to top it all off. But, it being January and cold as hell outside, he decided it was _his_ turn to steal something for once.

Of course, Barry and Len’s relationship was supposed to be on the down-low. _“Tell anyone about this, Scarlet, and you’ll find that Lisa, Mick, and all my other friends are on a first-name basis with the Flash, too.”_ It was for the best. Even though Barry wanted nothing more than to have a movie night in which he invited Caitlin, Cisco, and Iris over and cuddle on the couch with Len (most likely resulting in some PDA complaints from the other three) … It really was for the best. Barry couldn’t imagine an earth where Captain Cold and the Flash sleeping together, let alone being romantically involved, would go over well.

“I, uh, decided that, um… new year, new coat?” Barry lied. Cisco raised an eyebrow. “It’s cold.” Cisco chuckled.

“I think you mean it’s _Cold’s_.”

Barry crossed his arms. “It’s _not_ Snart’s coat,” he insisted. Caitlin shrugged as she walked out of the room connected to the Cortex, having heard their entire conversation.

“It sure looks like his, Barry,” Caitlin admitted, poking her head out from behind a wall. “Something you want to tell us?” Barry scoffed.

“Yeah, right. I didn’t realize the Flash wasn’t allowed to have a sense of humor,” he muttered. Caitlin stuck her hands up in surrender and walked over to Cisco.

“Speaking of which, we’ve yet to deal with this insomnia meta.”

“How are those topics connected, Cisco?”

“Don’t question it, Caitlin. Now…”

Barry drowned out their conversation, and focused instead on calming himself down from the mini heart attack. _That was a really close call,_ he thought. He had to work on his excuse. What if they asked why _that_ coat? He’d probably pass it off as a joke, like he did earlier. He had to keep his story straight. He knew that, in some strange way, he and Len belonged together. He didn’t want what they had to be messed up by a stupid parka. Len’s stupid, warm, cozy parka.

Barry jumped as he felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his – _Len’s_ – parka. He took his phone out and almost sighed with relief when he saw the text was from Iris.

**Iris, 2:49 PM: Where’s my reindeer mug?**

Barry stiffened, taking him back to square one.

**Me, 2:49 PM: I dont know**

But Barry did know.

**Iris, 2:50 PM: Barry that’s my favorite mug**

Barry knew that Len had taken to that mug since the first time he saw it.

**Me, 2:50 PM: I’m sorry, Iris.**

So he’d taken it hostage when he’d gone to Len’s apartment last.

**Iris, 2:50 PM: Barry, are you lying to me?**

And it hadn’t made its way back to Joe’s house.

**Me, 2:51 PM: Of course not. Why would you think that?**

**Iris, 2:51 PM: You’re using complete coherent sentences in your texts.**

Iris ended her last sentence in punctuation. Barry was screwed.

**Me, 2:52 PM: Caitlin’s bothering me about grammar.**

**Iris, 2:52 PM: Bartholomew Henry Allen, I swear to god if you’re lying to me**

**Iris, 2:53 PM: I am going to kick your skinny white ass.**

Barry broke out into a nervous sweat. He knew that Iris wasn’t joking about that. She could throw some powerful punches that Barry’s super healing couldn’t even keep up with. Iris was completely capable to beating up Barry, and she’d done it before. Once, when they were in high school, he broke her Gameboy. It did not end well. He’d told Joe that he tripped down the stairs, not wanting to admit that he’d been beaten up by Iris. Not wanting it to happen again. Barry shuddered at the memory.

“Who’re you texting?” Cisco asked, peering over Barry’s shoulder. Barry swatted at him, shooing him away.

“Iris. Her reindeer mug… went missing,” Barry answered cautiously. Cisco waggled his eyebrows and grinned, but didn’t say anything. Barry frowned. “What?”

“Sure you didn’t leave it at Lenny’s?” Cisco teased. Barry simply rolled his eyes at the statement.

“I don’t call him ‘Lenny,’” Barry started. His eyes went wide and his face flushed pure red as he realized his error. “I-I mean! I wouldn’t. It doesn’t suit him. I’d, uh, call him Len. _If_ we were even a little bit a thing.” Cisco was making a pitiful attempt to mask his laughter and keep a straight face. “But we’re not.” Laughter burst straight from Cisco’s chest.

“God, even if you’re not together, you’ve got the hots for Captain Cold,” Cisco laughed. Barry averted his eyes, not able to make eye contact with Cisco.

“I do not!”

“Why would Barry leave his mug at Snart’s, whether they’re dating or not?”

“Thank you, Caitlin!”

Barry strolled over to Caitlin, who was sitting at a computer and looking at the file of a metahuman that induced insomnia. Barry gave an internal bitter laugh as he thought about going after the meta himself without any protective gear because he had enough trouble sleeping as it was.

~

“Iris, are you sure you even _want_ that mug anymore?”

Barry had caught the metahuman, fortunately before he (who Cisco had named Nightmare) had a chance to whammy him. Now he was trying to keep Iris away from that mug.

“Why wouldn’t I want my mug, Barry?” Iris shot back. Barry shrugged.

“I mean, Snart did use it that one time he _broke into Joe’s house._ I was sure after that you’d never want to use it again.”

“I was a barista at Jitters for quite some time; I can wash a mug.”

“It’s not just that! I just thought that you wouldn’t enjoy the memory attached to it.”

“Where is my mug?!”

“I don’t know, I told you!”

_“Where is my mug?!”_

Barry sped to the other side of the Cortex, afraid of Iris’ wrath. Iris gave him a glare that rivaled any evil look given to him by a metahuman.

“Fine, I hid it!”

_“Where?!”_

“It’s somewhere in the lab; let me find it.”

Barry sped out of STAR Labs and briefly stopped outside the door to Len’s apartment. He phased through the door and made his way to the cupboard. He grabbed the reindeer mug, which was at the very back, after some not-so-quick digging around because he didn’t want to break any other of his boyfriend’s mugs. He swiftly turned around and his hopes of going in and out undetected were crushed as soon as he saw Len at the door, cold gun in hand. Barry stopped and laughed sheepishly, putting his hands in the air.

“What the hell are you doing here, Scarlet?” Len questioned, his lips twitching upwards despite him trying to look intimidating solely for the sake of seeing Barry’s reaction to it. Barry put a hand to the back of his neck.

“I, uh… Iris wants her mug back, so I…”

“So you broke into my apartment to steal it from me.”

“Technically I didn’t break in. I phased through the door, so I didn’t actually break anything. But, yes. I am stealing the mug back.”

“I could have grabbed it for you.”

“Come on, you steal stuff all the time,” Barry argued

“Ouch,” Len responded with a grin.

“It’s true!”

“Barry, do you want to know what I noticed after you left my apartment this morning?”

“Len, Iris thinks I’m at STAR Labs right now, so can we-?”

“My coat, Barry," Len purred, using his gun to gesture at the navy blue parka that was being worn by Barry. "It was missing.”

“I really don’t have time for this, babe.”

“Call me that again and I will freeze your leather-clad ass until it falls off.”

“Why do you people keep threatening my _ass?_ ”

Len chuckled and set down his gun. He walked to Barry and grasped his parka to pull him closer.

“Because it’s one of your best features. Be a shame if anything happened to it.”

Barry leaned forward to quickly kiss Len before speeding back to STAR Labs, leaving Len to stand there and smile to himself.

Iris crossed her arms as Barry slid to a stop in the Cortex with the mug in his hands. Everyone was staring at him.

“Where did you go?” Cisco asked.

“You definitely went outside the lab,” Caitlin pointed out.

“I meant the lab at CCPD,” Barry lied. God, keeping his relationship with Len quiet was a lot harder than he’d thought it would be. Iris took the mug from Barry and put it in her bag.

“If you steal this again, you’re _dead to me._ Got it?” Iris threatened. Barry nodded quickly. It was a lesson he’d learned almost every single day: Don’t piss off your sister. Ever. Barry felt his phone vibrate again. When he saw the messages that appeared, one after another, he couldn’t help but grin.

**Len, 5:19 PM: You look good in my parka by the way**

**Len, 5:20 PM: You’d look pretty good out of it, too**

Barry slammed his phone down on the table, blushing furiously at the cliche line. Cisco looked at him with a smirk.  _He knows._


	2. How Cisco and Caitlin Found Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco picked up the Vibe that Barry and Len were putting down. Caitlin happened to be standing nearby.

“So, you watching porn or something?” Cisco asked. Barry’s head shot up at the comment.

“ _Excuse me?!”_

“Barry, you slammed your phone down pretty hard. So either you’re watching porn or texting a certain freezing thief,” Cisco lowered his voice to a hiss. Barry rolled his eyes and stood up with a fake huff of laughter. He gave a fake smile and spoke through gritted teeth.

“You’re not letting that go, are you?” Barry began, gripping Cisco’s arm with intense strength and leading him into the hall. “For the last time, I am not-” That’s when he shoved Cisco forward, knowing they were out of earshot.

“Dude, what the hell?!”

“How did you find out?” Barry demanded. Cisco raised his brows and gave a wide smile.

“You mean-”

“Yes.”

“I was right?”

“Yes.”

“You and Snart are-”

“ _Yes, Cisco!”_ Barry snapped. Cisco just giggled. “But you can’t tell _anyone._ It would ruin his reputation.”

“You’re not worried about yours, then? Just his?” Barry shrugged. “Aw, that’s actually really cute.” Barry rolled his eyes.

“But, also yeah. My reputation, too. It would ruin both of us. If he finds out that you know, he’ll come after us with everything he’s got,” Barry said. Cisco made a face.

“Honestly, I doubt it. Seems like he’s got a soft spot for you,” Cisco shrugged. “This explains a lot though. I mean, if anyone really thought about it, it makes sense.”

“How so?”

“Well, you guys are constantly facing off, so I imagine that the sexual tension must be _insane-”_

“God, Cisco!”

“But with you two making deals and our teams helping out with each other since he decided to become the good guy, more chaotic neutral than anything, hell, maybe even chaotic good. If you think about it, Rory’s the one who’s chaotic neutral.”

“Do you have a point?”

“What I’m saying is, you two started to care about each other and then-” Cisco’s voice made a crescendo (in pitch rather than volume) as he gasped, “you two fell in love!” Barry blushed at the statement, which was more or less correct – not that it was any of Cisco’s business.

“Ugh, dude, that is so corny.”

“Not my fault. I’m going to be the Boyle to your Jake. And Leonard,” Cisco gasped again, almost a squeal, “he’s your Amy! Oh, my god!”

~

It had been a week since Cisco had found out, and Barry had low-key been avoiding his boyfriend. Len had a way of getting him to talk without even saying a word himself. Meanwhile, Cisco had been dropping cold puns every two seconds, making it clear to Barry that this was going to snowball until the entire city knew that their greatest hero and their most terrifying villain were in love with each other. Not seeing his boyfriend and having to constantly come up with excuses didn’t make him feel so heroic, though.

**Len, 9:07 AM: Things are starting to get pretty boring without you, you know**

**Me, 9:08 AM: I’m sorry Len. Things have been really crazy around here.**

**Len, 9:08 AM: Is something wrong**

**Me, 9:10 AM: Just really busy. I’ve been a little stressed lately.**

**Len, 9:11 AM: I’ll bet. I haven’t seen you for a while**

**Len, 9:11 AM: I don’t mean to sound like a sap, but it sucks not having you around, Scarlet**

“Are you ever gonna tell me what he said?” Cisco asked while Caitlin was in line about twenty feet away getting coffee. Barry sighed and slumped into his chair. I definitely wasn’t an amazing time for Cisco’s pestering, especially when he felt so awful.

“No, because it’s none of your business,” Barry sighed. “Besides, do you really think I want everyone in Jitters to know something that is none of _their_ business? I mean-”

“ _Now what did he say to you?!”_ Cisco yelled as he lunged toward Barry, who flung himself backward to avoid Cisco’s reach without giving away his powers.

“NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! STAY AWAY, YOU _HEATHEN!”_ Barry was so preoccupied that he didn’t even register how Cisco went dead stiff as the bell in the door rang.

“Dude,” Cisco interrupted in a significantly more quiet tone, hitting Barry’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “I think we’ve got bigger problems.” Barry’s gaze followed Cisco’s gesture and his jaw almost hit the floor. Walking through the door was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen. It was incredible how looks could be this amazing on a human being. And he was coming over. It must have been Barry’s lucky- _Oh, no. Oh, god. I’m screwed._

“I’ve been looking all over for you, Scarlet,” Len purred, taking a seat next to Barry.

“Um, what are you- I mean, why are you- uh, what’s happening?” Barry stammered. Cisco hid a snort of laughter in the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

“Well, I know you’re busy and all, I mean,” Len gestured around the room, “obviously you guys are hard at work.” Barry could have fainted from the panic that overtook him.

“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just-”

“I missed you, Barry.”

Cisco squeaked. “Oh, my god, that’s so adorable!”

“Ugh, dude!” Barry scoffed. Len raised an eyebrow.

“Cat’s out of the bag, is it?” Len asked. Much to Barry’s surprise, there wasn’t a trace of anger in his voice or his expression.

“Actually, um-” Barry was interrupted by the soft pressure of Len’s lips on his. Cisco nearly fell out of his chair upon seeing this. When Len backed away, Barry thought that his heart had actually stopped beating.

“Well, I was the only one who found out,” Cisco started, a shit-eating grin on his face, “but guess who’s joined the party!” Barry and Len followed Cisco’s pointing and saw a very shocked Caitlin Snow. Barry could have died of embarrassment.

“Hey, guys,” Caitlin eventually said. “How, uh… how long has this been happening? Because, in all honesty, I kinda knew this would happen eventually.”

“How does everybody figure it out?” Barry demanded. He was hoping that he hadn’t been so obvious. Caitlin clicked her tongue.

“You always seemed to have quite a few more problems with Snart. But then I figured it out – him being a criminal isn’t the problem. I’ve seen the looks you two give each other. You two just needed to bone.” Len’s jaw dropped at the comment. Barry had his hands buried deep into his hands as he blushed furiously.

“How,” Len breathed, dragging out the word, “ _dare_ you!” Cisco laughed.

“It was super easy to pick up on the fact that you two were at least _majorly_ attracted to each other,” he admitted. Caitlin shrugged.

“I had my suspicions. I mean, Barry is a terrible liar.” Barry threw a hand up and let it drop back down.

“But you’re not, like, mad or anything?” Barry asked. He was aware that the rest of Team Flash weren’t the biggest fans of Captain Cold, and Barry knew that it was for a fair reason. Caitlin shook her head.

“Nah, I’m happy for you guys. But understand,” she started, pointing a finger at Len, “this doesn’t give you a get out of jail free card. Not from me and Cisco.” Len nodded to the side.

“Fair enough. I’ve got the same deal with Scarlet here, too.”

“Speaking of deals-”

“Barry, it’s okay. It’s been almost two months,” Len sighed. Cisco giggled at the statement, prompting the other three to roll their eyes. “I think we can be adults about this, no matter the fact that we sometimes disagree on what’s legal.” With this, Len winked at Barry and stood up gracefully, taking one last glance before disappearing out the door.

This was just the start of Barry’s world being turned upside-down.


	3. Everything Goes South- Er, West

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They can't hide from the cops for too long...

Barry didn’t know what to feel when he opened the door and saw Joe sitting on the sofa with _that_ look on his face. The one that only a father can pull – _I’m not mad, just disappointed._ Barry didn’t know why he was getting that look. Joe had invited him over to have dinner with him, Cecile, and Iris. Barry looked around but he didn’t see anyone. He listened and didn’t hear anything. Were they late? It was a first for Barry to be earlier than everyone else to an event.

It probably had something to do with Len insisting he shouldn’t be late. Barry had nearly resorted to pleading Len to come, seeing as the dinner fell on the two-month mark of their relationship. Barry wanted to do something with just Len, then Joe invited him over. He knew that he shouldn’t have said no, but he was eventually at war with himself. As soon as Len entered the room asking what was wrong, he realized that he wanted Len to be there. It had been two months, and if they hadn’t figured out by then-

 _Oh, no,_ Barry thought. Joe patted the seat next to him.

“Barr, come here. I think we need to have a talk.”

 _Oh, nononononononono!_ Barry wept internally. He nearly dropped the loaf of French bread he had brought. Barry panicked. He knew exactly where this was going, but didn’t know if the best option was to feign ignorance or to just get it over with, like ripping off a Band-Aid. On an impulse decision, he gave a huff of laughter.

“Uh, Joe, I’m an adult. I know about the birds and the bees,” Barry said. Joe sighed, and Barry knew that Joe understood his train of thought.

“And I know about the Flash and the thief,” Joe simply stated. Barry let out the breath he’d been holding and reluctantly sat down. A few moments of silence passed. Neither of them knew what to say. Finally, Barry spoke up.

“How did you-?”

“I figured it out a few days ago,” Joe interrupted. Barry gave him a look. “I’m a detective, Barry. I realized that you don’t interact with him like other criminals, and he doesn’t interact with you like other targets. Especially when you two would decide to team up. When you’re in the same room, you two looked closer that you and Cisco. You and Iris, even.

“Of course, I figured it was just the relationship between you two. Hero and villain.” Barry stiffened at the word, like he had at the word ‘criminal’ just moments before. He almost expected Joe to refer to Len as a metahuman. Just another antagonist. “But then I realized that there was a literal relationship. I just don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“A couple reasons,” Barry spat, unable to help the furious tone in his voice. “For one, you’re a cop. I figured you two wouldn’t like each other because, two: he’s just another bad guy to you.”

“Barry, that’s not-”

“No! To you, he’s a thief. A criminal. A villain. Got anymore words I can add to the list, because that’s what you’ve said in the past three minutes. This is why I couldn’t trust you with this. Why _we_ couldn’t trust you with this. We knew that the moment you found out, you’d try to kill him or lock him up, or do _something_ to him!

“I know that’s all he is to you, and I’m not denying that he’s done bad things, but at least I see him as a _human being_ and not a predator. He doesn’t see me as a target. He sees me as someone who _loves_ him, because that’s what I am.” With that, Barry stood, not bothering to hear Joe’s excuse. He was too fired up to have the conversation any longer. He speed through the streets of Central City not thinking about anything.

Just running.

~

“Barry, you did _what?_ ”

And Barry thought that he had been lectured by Joe.

“I couldn’t just sit there while he listed off everything he thinks is wrong with you,” Barry muttered. Len sighed and sat down next to him.

“ _Barry_ ,” he said in _that_ tone. The one that made the tension flood out of Barry all at once. “We both know that you wouldn’t live long enough to hear the end of that list.” Barry smacked Len’s shoulder and Len chuckled.

“I should have known going over there was a terrible idea,” Barry said. Len just ran a hand through Barry’s hair, another way he knew how to calm his boyfriend.

“You know, I’m sure he had more to say.”

“I am, too. That’s why I left.”

Len laughed at this. Despite the anger that was creeping its way back through Barry, he couldn’t help smiling. Len’s laughter improved his mood no matter the circumstances.

“Are you sure he wasn’t going somewhere with it? That perhaps he had a change of heart?”

“The man raised me, Len. I know how he is. He doesn’t budge on his thoughts of who he thinks is bad. He didn’t doubt that my dad wasn’t the one who killed my mom until even _after_ I got my powers.”

“I can live with pissing off a cop. But can you live with storming out on the man who raised you? And raised you _well,_ might I add,” Len asked. Barry wanted to think of literally anything else.

“Right now I don’t give a damn,” Barry groaned. Len shrugged and decided not to say anything more on the subject.

“That’s fine,” Len dismissed, and Barry couldn’t tell if it was passive-aggressive or not. Regardless, there was something in the back of his mind that told him that he needed to go back. Barry looked at his phone to see several unread texts.

**Joe, 8:39 PM: I understand that youre mad, but youve gotta hear me out**

**Joe, 8:40 PM: Im not angry at you or him**

**Joe, 8:47 PM: I dont want you to think that I dont approve**

**Joe, 8:53 PM: Let me know when youre ready to talk about this**

“What’s not okay,” Len began, taking Barry’s attention away from his phone after minutes of reading the same four texts over and over again, “is you dragging ash onto my hardwood floors.” Barry looked behind him and saw a trail of black particles from the door to where his shoes were laying by it. Barry had been running in a pair of sneakers, so they caught fire pretty quickly. Barry chuckled sheepishly.

“Sorry, I’ll clean it up,” Barry said as he began to get up. Before he was on his feet, however, Len’s arms were around his waist.

“Not so _fast,_ Scarlet,” Len purred as Barry sat back down. “We can worry about that later.”


	4. Unintentional Blackmail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris uses her nosy reporter skills to reveal their secret...

Barry had nearly choked on his chicken fried rice as he laughed as Iris’ impression of her boss. She was quite stressed at work, so Barry decided to treat his sister to some Chinese takeout. They’d been binging Brooklyn 99 for the past hour or so, but Iris was compelled to pause it during one of the Thanksgiving episodes, where Holt left Jake in charge of the precinct. When Terry complained about Holt to his brother-in-law, that sparked Iris’ rant.

“I swear to god if he tries to get me to get another scandal on the Flash, I might just-” Iris groaned loudly and snapped the wooden chopsticks that had been abandoned in the bag in half. Barry almost felt scared. Pushed far enough, Iris could go insane. Barry had a quick flashback to _The Death of the Gameboy: Barry Loses His Dignity_ before commenting.

“Well, sorry you can’t get any dirt on me,” Barry said with a shrug. “I guess I’m just too damn heroic.” Iris snorted.

“Speaking of which, I heard that you and Dad had an interesting conversation the other day.” Barry felt himself freeze. He knew that Joe had to have told her. Barry figured that Iris was just acting as a messenger pigeon because he and Joe hadn’t spoken since Barry had sped out of his house just four days ago.

“Yeah, it kinda sucked,” Barry sighed. Iris gave him a weird look.

“What was it about? He keeps telling me stuff like, ‘I probably shouldn’t say anything about it,’ and ‘It’s his business, not yours.’ So, am I just not allowed to know?” Barry forgot how to breathe for a moment.

“It’s just, uh, something I need to figure out. On my own.”

Before Iris could say anything, both their phones chirped. Her brows drew together.

“Cisco just sent me an address,” she muttered. Barry had received the same text. It was only a few blocks away. When Iris’ phone went off again, she gasped. “Snart.” She showed her phone to Barry, and that’s all it said. _Snart._ Then Barry’s phone chimed.

**Cisco, 7:16 PM: your boyfriend’s gonna get in trouble!!!!!! go get him ;D**

Barry scoffed and ran out without a word, grabbing hit suit from the lab and speeding into the alley at the address Cisco had texted him. There Len stood, with his gun and the parka that got Barry into this whole mess. Barry tried to get himself into the mindset of the Flash, but found that he couldn’t shake off the hesitation that went from his mind to his steps.

“There you are, Flash!” Len called. “You took a long time. I thought you were getting cold feet.” Barry gestured around him, looking unimpressed.

“Robbing an alley, Cold? Doesn’t really seem to be your style,” Barry quipped. Len smirked.

“No,” he said, taking his gun and firing at a camera in the alley, “that’s not what I came here to do.” He stepped closer to Barry, who instinctively stepped away. Len chuckled.

“Then what did you drag me out here for? I’ve got a life outside of this, you know.”

“This won’t take too long. You tend to go pretty quickly.”

Len cast aside the gun and pinned Barry against a wall in the alley. Barry couldn’t help the blush rising up his neck. Len was so close to him, and Barry’s brain was short circuiting. On one hand, anyone walking by could see the two of them. On the other hand, the way that Len was looking at him was almost enough.

“Besides, I don’t get to see you in this suit too often,” Len murmured, dragging his hand lower and lower down Barry’s side. Barry couldn’t help but try to struggle against the single hand holding his wrists above his head, but _damn it_ if Len didn’t have a strong grip. He needed to be so much closer.

“If I’d known, I probably would have worn this for you sooner,” Barry confessed, already short of breath. As quickly as he could recover, he had absolutely zero stamina when it came to Len, who had that grin. The one that promised things to Barry.

“I think I’d prefer it if you weren’t wearing anything,” Len whispered as he finally closed the distance to give Barry what he’d been silently begging for. Barry moaned into the kiss, unable to control himself. He knew that Len loved him to be loud, especially since he’d taken to showing Barry off. When Len pressed him harder against the wall, Barry felt himself vibrating and Len kissing harder. Len released Barry’s wrists and Barry was very eager to get his hands on Len.

Barry had his hands under Len’s parka and was just about to slide it off when a bright flash of light flooded over them for a moment, and then came back even brighter just a second later.

“ _Shit!”_

Barry was on the other side of the alley as soon as he heard the voice. He heard what sounded like a pair of heels running away, and he looked at Len, who was wearing an expression Barry’d never seen on him before – guilt.

“Len, are you o-”

“I’ve ruined everything for you.”

The sentence hit Barry like a slap to the face.

“What?”

“Damn it, Barry, I was stupid and foolish and I didn’t even stop to think about anyone seeing us, and now-” Barry was now at Len’s side, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s fine, Len, it’s okay-”

“Now some random person had a photo of us and it’s gonna be everywhere and it’s all my fault-”

“No, it’s not, it’s gonna be fine-”

“I’m so sorry, Barry.”

Barry didn’t know how to respond. Hearing Len apologize was something that he seldom heard. Len was silent now, and Barry wanted so desperately to break the silence, but nothing was coming to his mind.

“It’s all gonna be okay, I promise,” Barry finally whispered. “People won’t know it’s us. They’ll probably just assume it’s some people in cosplay. Don’t worry about me.” Len sighed.

“I don’t know what to do. I didn’t plan for this to happen, I-”

“Well, that’s how it goes, right? You made the plan, executed the plan, and maybe you forgot to expect it, but the plan went off the rails. And you know what’s next?”

Len grinned ever so slightly at hearing Barry so calm and forgiving.

“Throw away the plan,” Len finished. Barry gave Len a quick kiss before pursuing whoever had taken that photo. He had sped through several blocks in the area but couldn’t find anyone. And just as he was about to give up…

**Iris, 7:28 PM: [Image]**

**Iris, 7:28 PM: Gotcha.**

 

~

 

“I had _nothing_ to do with that, I swear to god!” Cisco shouted. Caitlin and Iris had dragged each other out of the Cortex because they were laughing so hard while Barry was interrogating Cisco.

“ _You_ texted her, and yet you weren’t there to stop him yourself, neither was Caitlin, so I can only _assume_ that you staged this!” Barry retaliated. Cisco started doing something on his phone. After a few moments, he shoved it in Barry’s face.

“I don’t have his phone number, so I couldn’t have possibly known that he was going to drag you into an alley and fuck you or whatever you were about to do!”

“They were totally gonna fuck!” Iris called from the hall. Barry didn’t even bother to turn around and face her. “Please don’t be mad, Barry, I just wanted to spook you guys.”

“Well, maybe we won’t see Captain Cold again because he’s too busy _holed up in his apartment afraid to show his face knowing that that photo exists!”_ Barry snapped. That’s how it had been for the past night, anyway. Len had consistently told Barry not to spend the night with him, which had crushed Barry to an unmeasurable extent. Suddenly Iris’ expression dropped and she walked back into the Cortex. Caitlin followed close behind.

“Wait, what?” Iris spoke in a small voice. Barry huffed and crossed his arms, aware that his patience was dwindling.

“Look, you guys might not be serious about the two of us, but we are. So congratulations on ruining our lives to get your boss off your back, Iris.”

“Barry, I didn’t take the photo to give to my boss! I would never do that to you!”

“You wouldn’t be doing it to me, Iris. You’d be doing it to the Flash. How many people know who’s under that mask? Now how many people know who’s under the hood of Captain Cold’s parka? That’s about a ratio of, I’ll say twenty to _an entire city at the very least!_ So, no, you wouldn’t do that to me. But you’d do that to, say, a notorious criminal, wouldn’t you?”

“I know it’s not a great time,” Cisco interrupted in a meek voice, “but the headline could be something about Central City’s most fearsome thief stealing the Flash’s heart?” Barry sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair.

“Hmm, I don’t hate that,” a voice came from the other side of the room. All four heads turned to face it.

“What are you doing here?” Barry asked on instinct, but his tone was hushed. Len gave a small smile as he strolled over to Barry and simply stood by his side.

“You’re making a bigger deal out of this than you need to, kid,” Len sighed.

“Just last night I could have sworn you were on the verge of tears.”

“You can’t prove that.”

“I’m a forensic scientist, let me into your apartment for a couple hours and I’m sure I could find something.”

“Oh, Barry, if you were gonna be in my apartment for a few hours, you certainly wouldn’t be working.”

Cisco’s mouth fell open. Caitlin and Iris both leaned back a little simultaneously, as if they were dodging something. They both had a hand to their chest.

“ _Damn!”_ they both cried. Barry, Cisco, and Len all looked at them.

“Did you two _rehearse_ that?” Len asked. Iris gave a wave and Caitlin shrugged. They most certainly had. Barry just groaned and buried his face into Len’s shoulder. Len chuckled. “Don’t worry, Scarlet. I don’t care if people know I’ve got the Flash in my hands, all mine. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? A few people get jealous of me?”

“No, the worst that could happen is me getting kidnapped, or worse – you.”

“Okay, Barry, listen to me. I commend anyone with the balls to try to kidnap the Flash, especially knowing they’ll have to deal with _me._ And if somebody tries to get the opposite, I have this thing. Called a gun. My buddy Cisco made it for me.”

Cisco scoffed loudly, looking offended.

“I did _not_ make it for _you!_ ” he cried. “You _stole_ it from me!”

“That sounds like a personal problem,” Len purred.

“Hey, Snart, you got that gun on you right now?” Iris spoke up. Len nodded and tapped his side. It must have been covered up by his _god damn parka_ that Barry could swear was a bad omen at this point. None of them had noticed it. “Great. I’m due for an upgrade.”

Iris pulled her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and threw it on the floor. Len looked at her, a look on his face that asked her what the hell she was doing. Iris nodded, and Len slowly took out his gun. Despite the yells and cries that came from Cisco, Barry, and Caitlin, he squeezed the trigger for less than a second, covering Iris’ phone in a thick layer of ice.

“Would you like to do the honors?”

“Sure thing,” Iris chirped as she stomped on the pile of ice, sending shards all over the lab. Cisco groaned.

“That stuff is _never_ gonna melt, so thank you for giving me so much to clean up!” he shouted. The next few words were muttered under his breath. “I swear to God if this happens again, I’m gonna blast Snart across the country.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter, are y'all excited? I made this one extra long for ya kiddos


	5. Reparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Len have to do some damage control.

“Can you _please_ come with me to talk to Joe?”

“Are you sure he even wants me there?”

“I don’t even think he wants _me_ there.”

“ _Barry.”_

“Well, I did storm out of his house last week!”

“If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll be there. Don’t expect him to be thrilled about it.”

Joe _hadn’t_ been thrilled with Leonard’s presence. But he wasn’t angry about it, and had let both of them in. They sat on the sofa while Joe sat directly across from them. It was super uncomfortable for all of them. None of them even knew where to begin. Should Barry apologize? Should Joe? Len?

“How,” Barry broke the silence after a good three minutes of sitting, “do we talk about this?” Joe shrugged.

“I really didn’t mean to make you feel bad about this, Barry,” he responded. “I’m just confused.”

“Barry’s never dated a guy before?” Len asked, honestly trying his best not to sound aggravated.

“He has. That’s not the, uh, issue here.”

“I’ve never dated a, um...”

“Criminal,” Len finished.

Barry’s face turned red. He was ashamed of himself for almost being ashamed to admit who his boyfriend was. It’s not like he was in denial – he was fully aware that Len was a thief with some blood on his hands – but there was a part of him that wanted it to change. That wanted _Len_ to change. Barry’s head dropped as he looked to the floor, avoiding the eyes of the other two men in the room. Len rested his hand atop Barry’s.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, as if he didn’t want Joe to hear his reassurance. Barry wanted so badly to fight the tears filling his eyes. He sighed.

“I really didn’t want to hide this,” Barry confessed. “Because I knew that if I kept this a secret, I would feel like it was terrible for it to be true and out in the open.” His voice was breaking and getting higher in pitch to avoid the sob that wanted out of his chest. Len squeezed his hand tighter.

“I didn’t know that’s what it meant for you,” Len said, his own voice growing weak. “I thought that you wouldn’t want people to know that you’re with someone like me. That’s why I thought it was best to keep it quiet. I didn’t want things to change for you.”

“Leonard, I want to trust you,” Joe finally spoke up. Len nodded.

“I want you to trust me,” Len said, looking Joe in the eye. Barry knew that Len meant it.

“Joe, I trust him. I really do. I know he’d never hurt me. I know he’d protect me. I know that he wouldn’t leave my side. I...” Barry hesitated then looked up at Len, who had gone back to looking at him. “I love him.” Len smiled.

“Will you hurt him?” Joe asked.

“No, sir.”

“Will you protect him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Will you leave his side?”

“No, sir.”

“Are you aware that I am constantly armed and will not hesitate to protect my son?” Len grinned.

“Yes, sir.”

Joe stood up and stuck out his hand. Len mirrored the action and they shook hands. Joe, however, kept his already intense grip locked.

“If any of that was a lie, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

Joe smiled and pulled Len into a hug, taking the man by surprise. It lasted a good ten seconds. After _finally_ being released from that embrace, Len returned to his seat next to Barry. Without thinking, Barry leaned over to Len.

“You know, I’m not used to _you_ saying that phrase,” Barry hissed with a smirk. Len sat looking straight ahead. When Barry went back to looking forward, he locked eyes with Joe, who looked traumatized.

“Why would you say that?” Joe breathed. Len snorted and brought a hand to cover his mouth. “Why would you say that _in front of me?”_ Barry was blushing a bright red now.

“I didn’t think you’d hear,” Barry groaned, his head now in his hands. Len wouldn’t stop laughing at him.

 

~

 

Barry felt sleep try to drag his eyes closed as he shifted closer to Len’s chest. They were laying on their sides on the sofa in Cisco’s apartment. Len had an arm draped around Barry’s stomach while the other was stroking his hair. The combination of warmth and comfort threatened to make Barry fall asleep an hour into _Die Hard._ Cisco had invited the two of them, along with Caitlin and Iris, to binge all of the films in the series, but Barry figured he wouldn’t be able to watch Gruber fall off the tower. Caitlin looked like she was in the same boat – her head was resting on Iris’ shoulder and she looked like she was out cold. Cisco had a sizable glass bowl that was a quarter-way filled with popcorn in his lap.

Barry had gone through three bowls already (“Hey, I’m a speedster, okay? Sue me!”), even though Cisco told him that those were supposed to last him at least for the first two films (“I’ll see you in court, Allen!”). Iris was preoccupied stacking pieces of popcorn on Caitlin’s head and silently giggling lest she receive a death glare from Cisco for not paying attention. Barry gave a quiet, blissful sigh.

He looked over his shoulder only to see Len gazing fondly down at him.

“What?” Barry whispered, hoping he wasn’t distracting Cisco. Len just smiled at him.

“I love you,” Len whispered back.

“I love you, too.”

Barry leaned up to kiss Len, completely ignoring the film. He distantly heard the sound of Cisco ruffling through his popcorn, but he couldn’t bring himself to focus on that. He was just about to take it a step further when-

“YEET!”

And the couple was pelted by popcorn.

Caitlin shot up, startled by Cisco’s yell. Iris, displeased by Caitlin being disturbed, hurled a fist full of popcorn back at him. Caitlin pulled a piece of popcorn out of her hair. She was just about to throw it at Cisco’s face when Iris giggled.

“Did you do this?”

“What! Psh! No!”

Caitlin growled and flicked the piece of popcorn at Iris, who caught it in her mouth.

“Nice try.”

“You guys,” Cisco whined, “Those two are fucking on my sofa!”

“No, we weren’t,” Len sighed, a grin still locked on his face.

“That kind of behavior won’t fly in my good Christian home,” Cisco fake-scolded. Barry scoffed.

This. This is exactly what he had wanted. Barry had wanted nothing more than to have a movie night in which Cisco invited the two of them, Caitlin, and Iris over and cuddle on the couch with Len (resulting in some PDA complaints from Cisco). And to think that Barry had thought coming into the lab four years ago with Len’s parka on was the end of the world.

Barry took Len’s hand and kissed it right where the wedding band was.

He couldn’t have been luckier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmygod I can't believe it's over. I really hoped you guys enjoyed it and maybe I'll do something like this again soon! Thank you all for your inspiring comments and your kudos and everything!! Y'all are the best and I am very blessed. Haha, I'm a poet, and I didn't even know I was rhyming those words.


End file.
